July 31st 2015 - Painting gnomes

July 31st 2015 - Painting gnomes

I saw on facebook today that 1 of the churches  a few miles from us had a free craft session for children, it was painting a gnome.  I asked lil man if he would like to go to it.  He said yes as 1. he likes crafts and painting and 2. he can put it in the garden with the fairies.

We got the bus there and were abit early so we went round the chairty shops first.  In 1 of them we found a leprechaun salt & pepper shaker set, he thought they looked like gnomes and was upset when I said were leprechauns, but was quite happy when I said he could have them and I would make them a rainbow rock house that they could sit infront of.

We went off to the church and he made hisgnome, which he has called Gordon.  He joined in the mini treasure hunt round the church and got sweets and then joined in with making music and using differrent instruments.  (charity shops aside) it only cost me bus fare for an afternoon of fun for lil man.

They asked if we would be going over next tuesday for the viking afternoon, lil man wants to go, i'm not sure about the older 2 though.

July 30th 2015 - Kitten toy

July 30th 2015 - Kitten toy

When I first had sorted that we were getting a kitten I asked my friend if she could make me 1 of these kitten toys.

Lil miss starla has not been bothered by it since we got her but today she has played with it loads and batted it round the floor.  So now she is a bit bigger shes happy to play with it.

I missed the photo of her playing with it and shes now asleep but will get 1 later.

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July 29th 2015 - Library

July 29th 2015 - Library

Whilst going through lil mans book bag I found a letter about "the record breakers reading challenge" at the local library.  For this he has to read 6 books over the summer and he gets stickers and things as he goes along.  We got the bus to town and walked round to the library.  We spoke to the lady at the desk and got him his own library card.  We asked the lady about the reading challenge and she sent us to another desk to sort it.

The lady went through the paperwork and told us what he needs to do for it.  We took the paperwork and went over to the children's book area and started to look for books.  Lil man wasn't sure what he wanted so we headed to the learning to read section where we found a nice big pile that were suitable, we sat on 1 of the seats and went through them to see which ones he wanted to bring home.

He choose 3 learning to read and a bigger children's book from 1 of the boxes.  He has the books for 3 weeks but has already read 2 of the 4 he brought home.  The reading of 6 books isn't going to be a problem for him to do.  We have said that we will take a picture of him with all the books he reads and print them out so he can show his teacher when  he goes back to school in september.

July 28th 2015 - book hedgehog

july 28th 2015 - book hedgehog

today we went to the local community centre for their summer activities that they hold once a week during school holidays.  Todays activity was to make book hedgehogs.

My youngest son started to make his book hedgehog by folding it how he had been told, but he got bored after about 8 pages, so asked me if I would finish it for him, which I did.  I added the nose and eyes with glue when we got home instead of the double sided tape.

July 27th 2015 - Campfire cakes

July 27th 2015 - Campfire cakes

As my middle sons birthday is the day of badger day camp, I decided that I would try and make some campfire cakes similar to this pin but small fairy cake size.  I thought I had everything I needed to do a test run but found out I hadn't (luckily before I started) so me and lil man nipped to town.




We bought 2 packs of hard boiled sweets and sat and took out the red, orange and yellow ones:





 






We then used metal serving spoons to bash the sweets into small pieces/powder.  Here's my  son mid bashing!

Here are some of the bashed sweets both in their own bags and then the 3 colours mixed together.





We then sprinkled the mix onto a baking tray that had grease proof paper in it and stuck it in the oven for just over 5minutes so that the sweets all went back to being a soild mix, but a mix of 3 colours like flames.  This was the results both on and off the paper: 

















Next was to make the cakes - it was cheaper to buy a plain cake mix than a chocolate one, so I added a couple of spoons of drinking chocolate powder so it turns into a chocolate mix.

I then put them into the oven to bake and this was after I took them out to cool down.






 





The next thing was to decorate them, I knew what I wanted to do but wasn't 100% sure on how to do it.  This was what I was working with as well as the pieces of "flame" (coloured boiled sweets).







AND THIS is how they turned out.  I'm actually really pleased with them and they do look good, however, for the actual day camp I am going to use chocolate "matchmakers" as they will be easier to break and not as bulky to try and stand as sticks on a fire.

July 26th 2015 - rock pet

July 26th 2015 - rock pet

Yesterday when we went to the rock pool beach lil man picked up a rock and said was bringing it home to make a rock pet.  We didn't get as far as doing it yesterday so we have made it this morning.

I have had to use UHU glue as pva wasn't strong enough.  We have put googly eyes on it,

Then I glued a small feather to a piece of pipe cleaner and glued it into the crack in the stone as a tail.

Lil man then found a camo button and asked for that to be stuck to its back.

He then asked me to put on some diamantes and he has called his rock pet "Diamond".


We have talked about how he needs to look after his "pet" and come up with some "rules".  Here they are:

* "pet rocks" are lazy and do no not need exercise and they don't like to be thrown at anyone or anything.

* "pet rocks" are not known to eat food and can survive without any.  Nor do they need any water to drink.

* "pet rocks" are clean pets and don't need baths or to go swimming, infact they don't need to go anywhere near water as they will sink straight away.

* "pet rocks" are already trained they know how to "sit", "stay" and "play dead", they don't know how to come when called and wont answer to it's name.

* "pet rocks" don't need to be brushed as they have no fur or feathers.

* "pet rocks" can be left unattended for long times and will not cause problems or make a mess.


We hope you can find a relative of Diamond and make your own rock pet and have fun like we are.

July 25th 2015 - Parton

July 25th 2015 - Parton

I was on a mission today, I needed 60 smooth, small pale coloured rocks for a kids craft activity linked to Badger Day Camp.  They are going to make noughts & crosses games from lolly sticks and small stones of which they can decorate, they will then be going into a fabric pencil case that they can also decorate.  There is no way I am paying for rocks!

10mins drive down the road is Parton Beach, it is 98% rocks and rock pools and 2% sand.  Now you would think with this information that I would be able to find what I was looking for very easily - errrr no!  There are rocks every where but trying to find those that matched my criteria was not easy.

Hubby and the 3 boys went off to the rock pools and the edge of the sea and were trying to see what they could find - a few dead crabs, a dead seagull (decomposing), a pair of mens trousers, some shrimps and a few fish!  And they left me collecting rocks and shells.

 Whilst I was looking for the smooth rocks I found some that had lots of shiny/sparkly bits in that seem to be a type of crystal, there was a lot of this as well, in various shapes, sizes and colours.  I brought a few pieces home with me, the only 1 I can identify is the red cornelian.

My youngest son decided  that he wanted to bring a rock home and turn it into a rock pet, we are going to glue eyes on it.